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Centurion Karun Nair and a determined knock by Stuart Binny helped set up the match in Karnataka’s favour.

Here are the highlights of the day:

Group A

Assam vs Railways: The Anureet Singh-led Railways attack left Assam reeling on 41 for seven at stumps. The hosts were trailing by 198 runs and face the prospect of an innings defeat.

After Railways were powered to a 239-run first innings lead by centurion Arindam Gosh, Anureet (3/18) and Deepak Bansal (2/6) wrecked the Assam lineup. Amit Mishra and Avinash Yadav chipped in with a wicket each to help put Railways in a commanding position.

Earlier, at 224 for two, Railways were trailing by 20 runs with Nitin Bhille and Gosh at the crease when they resumed the innings on the third morning. The pair added 132 runs to the overnight total until Bhille was caught by Sibsankar Roy off his own bowling leaving the team on 356 for three.

Having taken the team past the 400-run mark, Gosh was later sent back for 109 by Dhiraj Goswami.

Uttar Pradesh vs Maharashtra: Chirag Khurana claimed 6/53 to help ensure Maharashtra three points as the match heads to a draw. After UP resumed their innings on 232 for seven, Maharashtra bowled the hosts out for 271 to clinch a first innings lead.

Building on the 41-run lead, Maharashtra were 256 for four at Stumps on day 3. R Tripathi scored 91 while Ankeet Bawane made 58 to help the visitors strengthen their position. When play ended for the day, R Motwani (30*), batting with NS Shaikh (25*) had extended the lead to 297.

Karnataka vs Hyderabad: A 134-run knock by Karun Nair and a solid 144-ball 72 by Stuart Binny helped set up the match in Karnataka’s favour.

Nair and Binny continued to build on the lead earlier in the day after resuming the hosts’ innings in the morning. After losing four early wickets on Day 2, the pair’s 160-run partnership held tip the balance in Karnataka’s favour.

Binny was the first to be sent back on the third day by Mehdi Hasan (5/88) leaving the team on 217 for five. Nair then continued to carry the innings forward even as wickets fell at the other end. The middle-order batsman was the last to return to the pavilion; bowled by Akash Bhandari.

K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal then picked a wicket each to leave Hyderabad on 50 for two. When play ended for the day, Tanmay Agarwal (43*), batting with Ambati Rayudu (18*) had taken Hyderabad to 92/2. The visitors were trailing by 288 runs at Stumps.

Jharkhand vs Haryana: Jharkhand declared their innings on 425 for nine with a 217-run first innings lead and had left Haryana on 141 for four in the second innings at Stumps on day 3.

Ishank Jaggi (135) and Shahbaz Nadeem’s patient 150-ball 70 helped Jharkhand to a solid lead. After the pair had resumed the innings on 311 for six, the middle-order batsman was the first to be sent by Deepak Punia leaving the team on 341 for seven. Nadeem then rallied on and took the team past the 400-run mark before being sent back by CK Bishnoi. Sunny Gupta was not out on 37 when Jharkhand declared their innings at the fall of Varun Aaron’s wicket.

Nadeem then sent back S Rohilla in the first over to peg Haryana back. He later followed up with the wicket CK Bishnoi while Aaron accounted for G Singh. At 31 for three Rajat Paliwal and R Dagar then joined hands to stitch a partnership. They had taken the team to 141 when Dagar was sent back for 64 by Sunny Gupta.

When play ended for the day, Paliwal was batting on 44 with R P Sharma.

J & K vs Gujarat: Gujarat sailed to an innings and 64 runs win. With seven points from the game, the defending champions took their points tally to 13.

After resuming the Gujarat innings on 276 for four, Manprit Juneja and Chirag Gandhi added 108 runs to the overnight total until the latter was dismissed. With the wicket of Gandhi (86) Manik Gupta ended the flourishing fifth-wicket partnership for 150 runs.

With the lower half of the line-up, Juneja continued to add useful runs to the score-line. When the middle-order bat was sent back for 131 by Parvez Rasool, Gujarat were left of 432 for nine. The J & K skipper then wrapped up the Gujarat innings by castling Mehul Patel. Gujarat were bowled out for 455 with a 194-run first innings lead.

Hardik Patel (5/59) and Piyush Chawla (4/38) then bowled Gujarat to a resounding win by bundling J & K out for 130 runs.

Kerala vs Team Rajasthan: Jalaj Saxena claimed eight wickets to bowl Kerala to a 92-run first innings lead. After wrapping up the Team Rajasthan innings for 243, the all-rounder returned to boost his team further with a century.

Opening the innings for Kerala, Jalaj had anchored the team to 217 for two until Stumps. He was batting on 102 with Sanju Samson on 72 when play ended for the day.

Andhra vs Odisha: In reply to Andhra’s 584 for five declared, Odisha were 294 for six at Stumps on Day 3 and trailed by 290 runs. Odisha skipper Govind Podder scored 111 off 182 balls as he worked to keep the innings in fray after resuming it on 32 for one on the third morning. After his overnight partner, Sandeep Pattanaik was sent back by KV Sasikanth leaving the side on 51 for one, he was complemented by Subhransu Senapati in building the innings.

The flourishing third wicket partnership was ended by Sasikanth for 185 with the wicket of the opener leaving Odisha on 236 for three. Bhargav Bhatt then followed up with the wicket of Senapati in the next over.

While Biplab Samantaray worked to hold the innings together, Odisha lost two more wickets until the end of day’s play. When play ended for the day he was batting on 23 with Shubham Nayak.

Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu: Returning to first-class cricket after almost five years due to an injury lay-off, Yomahesh helped Tamil Nadu seize a first innings lead with an unbeaten 103-run knock.

After resuming the innings on 239 for five, overnight batsman R Ashwin was sent back by Dhawal Kulkarni leaving the team on 244 for six. Vijay Gohil followed up with the wicket of N Jagadeesan a bit later. With the team still trailing by 87 runs, Yomahesh joined Baba Indrajith in the middle. The pair had taken the team to 339 when the middle-order batsman departed edging Gohil to the slips.

Yomahesh then rallied on and took the team to Lunch at 345 for eight with Rahil Shah. While Mumbai looked for a breakthrough, the pair rallied on in the second session. Yomahesh then took TN to a first innings lead with a six over long-on off Gohil and also brought up his half-century. The pair carried on in an effort to extend the lead and TN were on 411 when Rahil was sent back by Akash Parker.

Yomahesh then carried forward with Vignesh K and brought up his century with yet another six. They had taken the lead to 76 when, the tail-ender was bowled by Aditya Dhumal.

Looking back on the timely knock in his comeback game in a tough situation bating with the lower-order, Yomahesh said he drew on the previous experience to help the team pull through. “I have been in a similar situation in 2012 where we played Mumbai in the semi-finals. We were somewhere around 100 for 5 where me and Prasanna stitched a similar sort of partnership. I scored around 60 or 70 (67) and Prasanna scored a hundred. That experienced really helped me a lot. I kind of helped Rahil and Vignesh, I passed on to them as well.”

Vijay Shankar then bowled Prithvi Shaw in the third over to leave Mumbai on six for one. Shreyas Iyer, who then came to the crease clobbered the TN attack en route his half-century. The No 3 bat smashed five sixes and three boundaries. When play ended for the day, Iyer (56* off 58) and Akhil Herwadkar (26* off 64) had taken Mumbai to 85 for one.

Tripura vs Madhya Pradesh: Madhya Pradesh cantered to a ten-wicket win over Tripura on the third day to take their points tally to 14. After resuming their innings on 201 for seven, MP were bowled out for 260 on the third day with a 55-run first innings lead. Mihir Hirwani (5/22) and Ankit Sharma (4/51) then skittled Tripura out for 103.

Hirwani set the ball rolling by running out B Gosh with 11 runs on the board. 48 runs later, Ankit Sharma bowled U Bose and later in the over trapped R Banik lbw to leave the hosts on 59 for three. The duo then dismantled the Tripura lineup and wrapped up the innings in 44 overs to set up the game for the visitors.

Rajat Patidar and Harpreet Singh Bhatia then chased down the paltry 49-run target in 14.2 overs.

After Goa resumed their first innings on 94 for one, the home team were 246 and asked to follow on. Raghu Sharma claimed 4/50 while Vinay Choudhary picked three wickets and Siddharth Kaul accounted for two wickets. The top-scorer of the innings, No 11 batsman, Amit Yadav remained not out on 52.

Following on, Goa were 67 for two with Sagun Kamat and Amogh Desai in the middle. Vinay Choudhary and Siddharth had picked a wicket each to push the hosts further on the back-foot.

Services vs Himachal: After Himachal set Services a 326-run target, the hosts were 28 for one at Stumps on day 3.

Earlier, GK Singh finished with a four-for as HP bowled Services out for 215 after resuming on 153 for six.

Building on the 149-run lead, Himachal declared their second innings on 176 for nine. While V Yadav, Diwesh Pathania and RK Singh left the visitors on 58 for six, Rishi Dhawan’s 40 followed by A Vashisht’s 44 helped the team boost the lead and set Services a formidable target. Services opener, Ravi Chauhan was batting with V Yadav when play ended for the day.

Vidarbha vs Chhattisgarh: Vidarbha were 331 for six at Stumps on Day 3 after resuming on 31 for one in the morning. In the battle for a first innings lead, Vidarbha are trailing by 158 runs at the end of day’s play while Chhattisgarh need four wickets.

Faiz Fazal scored 125 off 229 balls while Wasim Jaffer scored a half-century as the team looked to shape a reply to the mammoth Chhattisgarh total. When play ended for the day, A Wankhede was batting on 22 with Karn Sharma on nine.

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While Jalaj Saxena claimed six wickets to tip the match in Kerala’s favour; Saurabh Kumar finished with 7/110 for UP against Maharashtra. Shreyas Gopal picked a five-for to put Karnataka in an advantageous position.

Here are the highlights of the day:

Group A

Assam vs Railways: At 224 for two, Railways were trailing by 20 runs at Stumps on day 2.

Saurabh Wakaskar and Shivkant Shukla got Railways off to a good start after the visitors bowled Assam out for 244 in the morning. After resuming on 216 for eight the hosts lost the last two wickets for 28 runs in the morning.

The Railways openers then built a 144-run stand until Wakaskar was bowled by Pritam Das for 80. After 35 runs, Shukla was trapped lbw for 86. Nitin Bhille (18*) and Arindam Gosh (31*) then took the team to stumps in an unbroken 45-run partnership.

Uttar Pradesh vs Maharashtra: With Eklavya Dwivedi (40*) and Imitiaz Ahmed (12*) at the crease, UP were 232 for seven at Stumps and trailing by 80 runs.

Coming together at 30 for one, Almas Shaukat and Shivam Choudhary built a 101-run stand to set the innings on course. Chirag Khurana (4/38), who ended the stand by trapping Shaukat lbw, also accounted for Suresh Raina (0) later in the over to leave UP on 131 for three. UP then continued to lose wickets and were left on 152 for six by the visitors. Saurabh Kumar then joined Dwivedi in steadying the innings and the pair added 62 runs until the former was sent back by A Sanklecha. Dwivedi then rallied on with I Ahmed and saw the hosts through to the end of day’s play.

Earlier, Maharashtra were bowled out for 312 after resuming the innings on 274 for four. Rohit Motwani was the first to return to the pavilion in the first session without a run added to the score-line. Ankeet Bawane was sent back for 119 after resuming his innings on 107 by Saurabh Kumar leaving the team on 292 for six.

Saurabh finished with 7/110 as UP wrapped up the Maharashtra innings earlier in the day.

Karnataka vs Hyderabad: Spinners Shreyas Gopal (5/17) and K Gowtham (3/56) bowled Karnataka to a 47-run first innings lead by bundling Hyderabad out for 136 earlier in the day.

Hyderabad had resumed their innings on 51 for three in the morning with Sumanth Kolla and B Sandeep in the middle. With 28 runs added to their overnight score, Sreenath Arvind struck to end the stand by claiming B Sandeep. The spinners then ran through the rest of the lineup to give the hosts an edge.

Building on the narrow lead, Samarth R and KL Rahul put together 45 runs for the opening stand Mehdi Hasan disrupted the latter’s stumps. He followed it up with three quick wickets – Samarth, Mayank Agarwal and Gowtham to reduce the hosts to 57 for four.

However, Karun Nair found an ally in Stuart Binny and the pair took Karnataka to Stumps at 127 for four. The home team were leading by 174 runs when play ended for the day.

Jharkhand vs Haryana: Ishank Jaggi (127*) had taken Jharkhand to a 103-run first innings lead at the end of Day 2.

A Chahal and A Hooda claimed two wickets each to leave Jharkhand on 60 for four after resuming their innings on 14 without loss. Jaggi and Ishan Kishan then joined hands to revive the innings. The pair added 190 runs for the fifth wicket before the latter was caught by A Sandhu off his own bowling. Mishra then followed up with the wicket of Kaushal Singh 19 runs later.

Jaggi then took the team to stumps with Shahbaz Nadeem at 311 for six.

J & K vs Gujarat: A determined batting performance by the Gujarat batsmen helped the team to 276 for four at stumps. Manprit Juneja (66* off 148) and Chirag Gandhi (31*) had taken the team to a 15-run lead until play ended for the day.

After resuming on 15 without loss, the Gujarat batsmen made valuable contribution with patient batting to shape the innings. Priyank Panchal made 61 off 132 while R Bhatt chipped in with 38 off 138 as Gujarat built the innings.

Kerala vs Team Rajasthan: Team Rajasthan were trailing by 201 runs with four wickets in hand when play ended for the day. Jalaj Saxena claimed six for 46 as the visitors were restricted to 134 for six at Stumps on Day 2.

Earlier, Kerala were bowled out for 335 after resuming on 232 for three. 34 runs into the day’s play, overnight batsman Sanju Samson was sent back by D Chahar for 42. Team Rajasthan then struck at regular intervals to keep the rest of the lineup in check even as Sachin Baby (78 off 142) worked to hold up one end. M Lomror, who accounted for the Kerala captain finished with 4/51 as they wrapped up the hosts innings.

Andhra vs Odisha: Hanuma Vihari posted his maiden first-class triple century as he powered Andhra to a mammoth 584 for five before declaring the innings. The Andhra skipper was unbeaten on 302 (off 456) when declared the innings.

After resuming his innings on 143, Vihari was ably supported by Ricky Bhui to help pile on runs. The batsman also scored a century as they raised a mountainous total.

While Akash Parker knocked back Abhinav Mukund’s stumps to leave TN on 14 for one, Vijay Gohil drew an edge from Murali Vijay through to the wicketkeeper 18 runs later. First over of the second session, Abhishek Nayar claimed Kaushik Gandhi to leave TN on 34 for three and a while later Vijay Shankar was sent back by Gohil leaving the visitors on the back-foot.

Indrajith and Sundar then rebuilt the innings at a steady pace. Speaking about their partnership, Sundar said, “There was pressure and 370 was a very good score on this wicket. When I went in, we needed a good partnership. I just wanted to spend a lot of time with Inder and we batted well.

“We just wanted to play to the merit of the ball. We kept getting runs, so the pressure was slowly easing out. I thought we communicated very well and we ran very well,” he added.

Speaking about the discussion with his senior partner, the batsman said, “Playing to the merit (of the ball) is really important and I think when the team is not in a good position, restricting few shots is very important. Me and Inder did that really well when I went in. I didn't really play a lofted shot and Inder was playing only to his strength. After a while, the boundaries were coming just by playing to the merit of the ball and the pressure was on them.”

Reflecting on the period of play where the TN batsmen seized the advantage from the hosts, Mumbai captain Aditya Tare said, “From 69 for 4 we should have controlled the game better. But in the middle, the game actually drifted away from us. Credit to Indrajith and Sundar for the way they batted. It was a good partnership from them, but we did not bowl well after lunch.”

Speaking about Gohil, who had given Mumbai an early breakthrough, Tare said, “He is our strike bowler when it comes to spinners. We decided to play Aditya Dhumal because the pitch looked a bit dry. I thought it would spin from the second or third day. It is a bit slow, but the odd ball does turn. So hopefully he will come in handy. He did not have a great day but he is a better bowler than that.

“It is quite challenging when you have a left-right combination, especially batsmen who are good against spin. So, it was quite challenging for the spinners. You could see they were a bit confused in the middle as to what to bowl, whether to attack or defend. They started off well. Both of them had good first spells. But the second and third spells weren’t all that good. Hopefully they can come back tomorrow morning,” he elaborated.

Towards the end of day’s play Mumbai tried to keep the batters in check by bowling short. “We were a bit late on that. We should have tried that strategy a bit earlier. We knew that Washington was a bit deceptive on short balls. We have seen a few videos of his. The thing is it is not quite easy to bowl on such pitches, especially in the second session. Third session it gets a bit cooler, there is a shadow on the pitch. There is some encouragement for fast bowlers in the first and the third sessions. That is why we tried bowling short in the end,” the skipper said while adding that Mumbai hope to put up a better performance when play resumes on the third day.

At the end of day’s play, Indrajith had anchored TN to 239 for five with R Ashwin (8*) at the other end.

Tripura vs Madhya Pradesh: At 200 for seven, MP were trailing by five runs at the end of Day 2. Rajat Patidar (79) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (69) kept the visitors’ innings in the fray even as the Tripura attack kept striking at regular intervals.

At Stumps, Puneet Datey was batting on 20 with Mihir Hirwani, who was yet to open his innings. MB Mura Singh, Gurinder Singh and Rana Datta claimed two wickets each while JB Bhattacharjee picked one wicket. Earlier after Tripura resumed on 88 for six, Gurinder Singh went on to make 57 and A Sarkar made 32 to lift the hosts to a decent score before being bowled out.

Goa vs Punjab: Goa were 94 for one and trailing by 541 runs at Stumps of Day 2 in reply to Punjab’s massive total of 635 runs.

Jiwanjot Singh and Anmolpreet Singh resumed Punjab’s innings on 396 for two and had taken the side to 420 when the latter was run out; ending the partnership for 260. A bit later the opener was sent back by Amogh Desai for 238. Gurkeerat Maan then continued to add on to the total with the lower half of the lineup until he was sent back for 114 by Shadab Jakati. The bowler finished with a five-for when the hosts eventually wrapped-up the Punjab innings.

Services vs Himachal: Himachal were in an advantageous position at the end of second day’s play against Services. AP Vashisht took 4/48 to leave Services wobbling on 153 for six after Himachal posted 364 in the first innings.

Himachal resumed their innings on 273 for five on Day 2 and bowled out for an addition of 91 runs to the overnight score. V Yadav finished with a five-for in the innings.

After resuming on 246 for three, useful contributions by the middle-order complementing Khare’s efforts helped Chhattisgarh post a formidable total on the board. Karn Sharma and A Karnewar claimed three wickets each as Vidarbha looked to plug the flow of runs.

In reply, the hosts were 31 for one with Faiz Fazal (20*) and S Wagh (4*) in the middle.